Home from the Dead
by Vol lady
Summary: AU set one year after The Man from Nowhere. Nick and Heath did not find Jarrod in Rockville, and he has not regained his memory but has continued to wander and search for himself. Working at a ranch in Nevada, he sees an old newspaper with his own picture in it. He goes back to the Barkley ranch to find the Jarrod Barkley he doesn't remember being.
1. Chapter 1

Home From the Dead

Prologue

Nick and Heath came into the house like they really didn't want to. They were tired. They'd searched the area around Rockville for days, talked to everyone they could buttonhole. They were frustrated with the Mathews family because they had sold out and left, but the locals said they doubted the lawyer was with them. They had one hired hand, but he didn't look or act like any lawyer. All that was left to say that Jarrod had ever been there was his injured horse and the personal items the horse carried.

Finally, they changed their search to one for a body, looking in every ravine and bunch of bushes and still finding no trace at all of their brother. They had to face an ugly truth – that if Jarrod had been thrown from his horse, as it appeared, he had probably been killed and some animal had dragged him off – and the rest of it turned their stomachs so bad they couldn't think about it. They certainly weren't going to tell their mother and sister about it.

Victoria and Audra met them eagerly at the door – and then slumped to see their faces. Nick just said, "He's gone, Mother."

"No," she said. "We have to try something else if you didn't find him. His picture in some newspapers, something like that."

Heath said, "We can try that."

"But I don't want you to get your hopes up," Nick said. "From what we learned, it looks like he was thrown from his horse and – well, that's all we could find. There's nothing else. He's gone."

Victoria shook her head, but the tears came. "No. No."

Chapter 1

The dark-haired man with the piercing blue eyes took great care in what he was doing. Cutting leather for new reins and harnesses was a risky job. You could cut your hand easily, even through gloves, and sometimes that led to a nasty cut and, worse, that dreaded lockjaw. Lockjaw would kill you, a horrible pain-filled death. You had to be very careful with tools as sharp as the tools you needed to cut leather.

He was fine today, finished the job and put the tools away without even a nick to his gloves. He picked up one of the old harnesses that needed new leather and began to take the old leather out of it. That was when the boss, Mr. Carlisle, came in.

He looked up. "Morning, Mr. Carlisle," he said and stopped what he was doing.

"Dakota," Mr. Carlisle said. He was a decent and fair man. He knew Dakota's history – what there was of it – and treated him like anybody else. If there were wanted posters and criminal charges on Dakota somewhere else, Mr. Carlisle didn't care. As long as Dakota was a good worker and caused no trouble here, Mr. Carlisle was happy.

This morning he was carrying a newspaper. Dakota looked at it as Mr. Carlisle handed it to him.

"It's a year old," Mr. Carlisle said. "Somebody left it at the stage depot last night. I was there to check the schedules and picked it up out of curiosity. Found that picture."

Dakota saw that the newspaper was folded to reveal a photograph. His heart started beating faster. The photo was of him – Dakota – only he was in a suit with a string tie, not in working clothes. The wording underneath gave a name and said this man was missing. It gave an address to contact – Barkley Ranch, Stockton, California.

Dakota looked up. He had no words.

Mr. Carlisle said, "If you want to go check it out, I'll give you your pay. You'll always be welcome here if you want to come back – in case this isn't you or you just don't want it to be."

Dakota was stunned. He really didn't know what he wanted. In all this time, with all the searching he'd done, it never occurred to him that someone was looking for him, too. He looked at the photo again. "Jarrod Barkley."

"Does it sound familiar?" Mr. Carlisle asked.

Dakota shook his head. "Not at all, but I suppose that doesn't mean anything."

"If it were me," Mr. Carlisle said, "if I were in your shoes, I'd go check it out. Like I said, if this is you and you just don't like being Jarrod Barkley, you can always come back here. You're a good hand."

Dakota said, "I suppose I'd better check it out at least."

Mr. Carlisle gave him a slap on the arm. "Come get your pay. You can take a horse into town, leave it at the livery. You can still catch the afternoon stage to Reno."

Dakota sighed with a small laugh. "I don't relish that long ride to Reno, but I guess I'll be doing it. If I am this Jarrod Barkley – well, maybe I'll be able to answer a lot of questions, at least."

Mr. Carlisle nodded. "Come on into the house."

XXXXXX

The stage coach ride was dreadfully long and bumpy. It took days to get to Reno – partly because of a broken axle and some nasty weather. But they finally made it there, and Dakota caught the west bound train the same day he arrived in town.

The train wasn't much better than the stage, although it was faster. The seats were hard and uncomfortable, but there were no delays and the train rolled into Sacramento on time. But with the train to Stockton, he wasn't so lucky. A rockslide had damaged the track. There would be no service for quite a while. With a sigh, Dakota bought space on another stage coach that was leaving the next day.

Sacramento was too big and expensive a town for his taste and his wallet, so he found a cheap boarding house and settled in there. The owner was a widow with a fifteen-year-old son who helped her out. Dakota took a nice dinner with them, then retreated to his room.

Relaxing in a pretty nice bed there, he took the newspaper clipping out of his pocket for the n'th time and looked at it. It was so very strange, looking at a stranger who could be you. It gave him almost an out of body feeling, like he was floating somewhere between the man he was and the man this picture said he was. He hadn't worked up the courage to ask anyone along the way to Sacramento if they knew this Jarrod Barkley, and was he him. He took a guess – from the clothes in this picture, this Jarrod Barkley did not travel in the same working man circles as he, Dakota, did. This Jarrod Barkley looked like he had two nickels to rub together, and probably never got his hands dirty. Could this Jarrod Barkley possibly be him?

He went out to look for a saloon and get a drink. He passed up the ones that looked like they charged pretty high prices – and he bet Jarrod Barkley wouldn't pass them up. But he found a simpler place where the clientele looked more like he did. He had a beer, watched some poker but did not risk his meager funds in playing any, bought a drink for a pretty young lady but passed on her other ideas for their time together. After an hour or so, he headed back to the boarding house. The next day he was on a stagecoach to Stockton.

When he stepped out of the coach there, he immediately went to the local livery and got a shock. The man there looked at him like he was a ghost – he actually did turn several shades paler.

"I'd like to buy a horse," Dakota said.

"Well, sure, Mr. Barkley," the man stammered. "Shall I just put it on the Barkley account?"

Dakota was stunned for a moment. Put it on an account and he could just ride away? Is that what this Jarrod Barkley lived like? "Yeah, for now, do that. I might be returning it, but if I don't, I'll settle up with the Barkleys."

The man looked confused at what Dakota said, but he said, "Yes, sir, and I guess you'll need saddle and tack, too."

"Yeah," Dakota said.

"Comin' right up."

The service was very satisfying. If this was the way Jarrod Barkley lived, maybe it wouldn't be all that bad. Unless, of course, Jarrod Barkley got this kind of service because he was a dangerous man who scared people every time he came into view. Dakota wondered again who he really was.

In a few minutes, he mounted up. "Can you direct me to the Barkley ranch?" he asked the liveryman.

The man looked startled. "You don't know the way?"

"It's been a while," Dakota said and grabbed an excuse for asking out of thin air. "Stockton's grown a bit, looks different."

The man pointed. "Take the main road here to your right and keep on going straight. You'll see the sign for the ranch in about an hour."

Dakota nodded his thanks and took off.

XXXXXXX

It was nearing five o'clock in the evening when Dakota rode under the sign that said he was on the Barkley ranch. He kept on going, noticing ranch hands coming and going. Only a handful of them seemed to look at him, and among them very few looked at him like they were startled to see him. He rode on. What looked like the main housing complex came into view. Big white house, several barns and out buildings, a couple bunkhouses. As he rode closer, Dakota began to get nervous. This place was bigger than Mr. Carlisle's spread, bigger than any spread he could remember. Was it really possible that he belonged here?

Because it wasn't jogging his memory in the slightest.

He rode up to the house. In the stable yard, a confused looking Mexican man took his horse without a word. Dakota nodded his thanks and went up to the front door. It was big, solid oak, with a knocker in the center. He knocked several times, then looked around at the impressive pillars and big windows.

The door opened. A small, older black man in very handsome coat and tie suddenly turned white at the sight of him. Dakota took his hat off and smiled. "Are any of the Barkleys available?" he asked.

The black man stuttered and almost fell down where he stood, but he opened the door further and stepped aside, saying, "Come in. I'll get Mrs. Barkley."

Dakota stepped inside, into a huge foyer with a grand staircase leading to a second floor. There was a parlor off to his left, big with a fireplace that looked to be about the size of a regular room in a regular house. These people had money. Lots of money.

Several people suddenly came hurrying through a pair of double doors to his right – an older woman, a young blonde woman, and two men, both tall but one dark-haired and the other blond. They all stopped and stared at him, and for a minute he thought the older woman was going to faint dead away. But instead she came over to him and took his free hand, then she ran her hand over his chest like she didn't believe he was really standing there.

He was always the darkest of her children, and now he was even darker, obviously from a lot of time in the sun. There were more lines in his face, and his hand was rough and calloused where once it was a lawyer's hand, smoother and easier. But those eyes – even though there was no real joy in them, no sparkle at all, they were still that bright blue that made everyone stare at them in surprise. She knew who this man was. There was no doubt in her mind at all.

She said, "Oh, Jarrod."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Startled at her touch, Dakota just said, "Hello."

"Hello?!" the taller dark-haired man said, and he looked furious. "All this time, you turn up out of the blue and say 'hello'?!"

The older woman held her hand up to stop the man from talking. "Nick – " she said, and then she turned back toward Dakota. "Jarrod, what's happened to you?" she asked. She could tell that even if he was here, in front of her, something was still wrong, even if the taller man didn't realize it.

Dakota stuttered himself now. "It's complicated."

The older woman took him by the arm and turned him toward the living room. "Let's sit down and talk. Would you like a drink?"

Dakota spotted the little table that had carafes and bottles of whiskey on it, along with the finest crystal he'd ever seen. "Maybe some whiskey."

"What, no scotch?" the taller man asked sarcastically as he reached that little table and poured whiskey.

The older woman sat Dakota down on a settee and sat down beside him. The young woman sat in a chair opposite the settee, and the blond man sat in another one. The tall man gave Dakota a glass of whiskey and then went back to pour one for himself. "Do you want anything, Mother?" he asked.

"No, not yet," the older woman said.

"Heath? Audra?"

"No," the blond man said.

The younger woman said, "Nothing for me, Nick."

The dark-haired man poured himself a quick drink, turned around and said, "Okay, let's hear it."

"Nick!" the older woman said again, more forcefully this time.

Dakota could feel the anger radiating out of the man, but he had to do some fast thinking to figure out why. The man didn't give him much of a chance though, because he rapidly said to the older woman, "More than a year! More than a year he's been gone without a peep, and now he waltzes in here large as life – "

Dakota wasn't sure why, but he just interrupted the man. "Maybe I have a reason if you'll give me half a chance to talk."

"Go ahead!" the man said. "Talk!"

Dakota looked around at these people, but the older woman and the blond man were the only ones to pick up on the look in his eyes. "My God," the blond man said. "You don't have a clue who we are, do you?"

The older woman's eyes grew wet. Dakota shook his head. "I don't," he said, looking at the older woman. "I'm sorry." He took the newspaper clipping out of his pocket and handed it to her.

The tall man looked over her shoulder before she passed the clipping to the blond man. He looked at it and passed it to the younger woman. The dark-haired man wandered back toward the table with the liquor on it and poured himself some more.

Dakota took a sip of his drink, but his hands were shaking now.

"What happened?" the older woman asked.

"I was in Rockville, California, a little over a year ago," Dakota said. "I'm told I was knocked off my horse and wandered around for an entire day, out of my head. I made it to a small ranch house, and these people named Mathews took me in, but when I came to, I had no idea who I was or what I was doing there. I worked for that family for a week or so, then they sold out and I started making my way east, trying to find out who I was and where I belonged. I don't know why east - I was just guessing. I was in Ely, Nevada when my boss – a man named Carlisle – found an old Sacramento newspaper with that picture in it. I spent the last year trying to find out who I was, but until I got that photo about a week ago, I didn't have any idea. I'm sorry. I have a name now, but that's all I have."

The older woman took his hand. "No, Jarrod, there's no reason for you to be sorry."

"I'm the one who's sorry," the tall man said, calmer now. "It's just, we looked for you and looked for you."

"You went up to Rockville on business for the State Land Office," the blond man said. "When you didn't get where you were supposed to be, Nick and I went after you. All we ever learned was that somebody found your horse and your personal things but nobody ever found you."

"We thought you were dead," the younger woman said. "Oh, Jarrod, we thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry," Dakota said again, and inside he thought to himself, _whoever I was really is dead_. He took a deep breath, near tears himself. "Look, I don't mean to be short with you, but – can you tell me who you are?"

The people he didn't know all actually jumped. The older woman took his hand again. "I'm sorry. We've just been so surprised, we haven't even been thinking that you – well, you told us, but it went right by. You don't know who we are."

Dakota shook his head. "No, I don't."

"I'm Victoria Barkley," she said. "I'm your mother. You are my oldest son. The tall man who's short on manners is your brother, Nick. This other man is your brother Heath, and this young woman is your sister, Audra."

It was surreal for every single one of them, Dakota included. He was learning these people were his family, but as he looked at them, he was looking at strangers.

Heath asked, "Do you recognize any of us, Jarrod?"

Dakota shook his head. "I don't even recognize my own name yet. I've been going by Dakota. The boy at the Mathews ranch gave it to me. It was better than 'hey, you.'" He took the last healthy swig of his whiskey.

"Another?" Nick asked.

Dakota shook his head again. "No. I think I'd better stay sober." He handed Nick his empty glass.

Nick noticed his hands. They were thicker and more calloused than they ever were before, a couple of his nails torn. He looked at the man, and he knew this was his brother Jarrod, but he wasn't Jarrod. Not the well-educated, well-groomed attorney who left here a year ago and disappeared.

Dakota locked gazes with Nick for a moment. He could see how uncomfortable the man still looked. Dakota said, "I saw the doctor in Rockville right after I got hurt. He said it was possible my memory would never come back, and it hasn't. I'm sorry, but I don't have any recollection of this place, or of any of you, or of who I was before. It's all just gone."

"That doesn't mean you don't belong here," Audra said.

"It will take some adjustment for all of us," Victoria said, "but you do belong here. You are my son. There's not a doubt in my mind."

Dakota smiled a little. "Are you sure you can resurrect me? The man you knew – well, in a way, he is dead. He's not coming back. The man I am now is the man who's gonna stay."

Nick and Heath looked at each other, then looked away.

"What name do you want us to call you?" Victoria asked. "Jarrod, or Dakota?"

He appreciated that she asked, and he admitted, "I'm kinda used to Dakota. I think, if it's not too awkward for you – but Jarrod is all right, too."

"Dakota does kind of suit you, too," Audra said.

Victoria said, "I wish I could say we still had some of your old clothes around, but we gave them away when – " She hesitated. "When we couldn't find you. But would you like to wash up? If you came from Ely, you've had a long trip."

"I had a stopover in Sacramento, but yes, I would like to wash up, if someone will show me where to go."

Heath stood up. "Let me show you."

Dakota got up and followed Heath. Heath headed upstairs, but Dakota hesitated for just a moment, wondering how the pump could be upstairs. When Heath looked back at him, Dakota followed.

As soon as they were out of sight, Victoria dissolved in tears. Audra quickly came beside her and held her. "Don't worry, Mother, we'll work it out," Audra said.

"At least he's home again," Nick said.

"Is he?" Victoria asked. "I know this is Jarrod, but he's not the Jarrod we knew."

"Doesn't mean he won't get a lot of himself back," Nick said. "Give it some time. He won't stay this much a stranger."

"Oh, I hope not," Victoria said and wiped her face.

XXXXXXX

Heath showed his reclaimed brother the way to the water closet, and Dakota was shocked when he opened the door. For all intents and purposes, this was Dakota's first introduction to a wc. His eyebrows went up by themselves.

Heath noticed and smiled. "There are clean towels in the cabinet in the corner. I'll stick around here in the hall in case you need anything."

"Thanks," Dakota said, and then he realized something that had been itching at the back of his mind. "You don't seem as awkward with me as the others do."

Heath smiled a little more. "I've been where you are. I didn't grow up here. I'm your half-brother – same father, different mother. I came here for the first time not three years ago. Kinda understand how it is to find out a bunch of strangers are your relatives. And to find out there's such a thing as indoor plumbing."

Dakota chuckled. He liked this man. "Tell me something – even if it sounds stupid."

"What's that?"

"How old am I?"

Heath laughed. "You're 33 by now, almost 34. I'm 26. Nick is 29 almost 30, Audra 20, and Mother is – well, Mother is Mother."

Dakota chuckled a little more. "Tell me something else," he said then, seriously. "How hard was it for you to fit in here?"

"Not as hard as I thought it would be," Heath said. "These are good people, Dakota. Give them a chance. They already love you."

Dakota smiled a sad smile. "They love Jarrod Barkley. Whether they love me or not – well, I guess that remains to be seen."

Heath nodded. "Maybe, but they came to love me, and I came in the door with both feet on backwards."

Dakota out and out laughed this time.

Heath gave him a slap on the arm. "Just hang in there, Pappy."

"Pappy?" Dakota asked.

Heath smiled. He'd forgotten for a moment. "Your nickname. Seems you got it young, and when Father died – before I came along – they gave it to you for real. You're old enough you became a father for Audra and Eugene."

"Eugene?"

"Sorry. Another brother, back east in medical school now."

Dakota took a deep breath. "I'm gonna have a time just remembering names."

"You'll do fine," Heath said, and as Dakota went into the wc, he added, "If you have a problem, just try 'hey, you.'"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Heath thought Dakota was taking quite a while in the wc, but when Dakota came out he saw why. The man had shaved. When he saw Heath looking at him sideways, Dakota produced a folding straight razor from his back pocket. "My only possession, except for my clothes and my - ," Dakota realized he was still wearing it – " – my gun," he said with an embarrassed smile. "The Mathews boy Danny gave the razor to me. I could stand to hone it. It's none too easy to shave with like this." He put it back in his pocket.

"You got a horse, too, don't you?" Heath asked.

Dakota smiled. "I charged it to you."

Heath laughed.

Dakota and Heath went back downstairs, where the others were already sharing drinks. Heath had a whiskey but Dakota declined again. He took his gun off, wondering what to do with it. Heath took it and hung it up in the hall with the others.

Dakota sat down beside Victoria and listened to the conversation.

About cattle. About hay. About the expected price of peaches this year and the price of gold on the San Francisco market right now. He understood about cattle and hay, but the price of peaches and gold were a mystery to him. At least he was beginning to understand the extent of the Barkley empire.

He finally asked, "May I ask something? What is it I've been doing?"

Nick chortled. "Everything."

"Everything?" Dakota asked.

"You've been handling the business end of things since your father died," Victoria said, "and of course the legal affairs."

"Legal affairs?"

"You're a lawyer!" Audra said with a smile.

Dakota straightened like he'd been struck by lightning. "A lawyer? Well, that explains the suit in the picture, I guess. But I hope you're not thinking I can dive right back into that."

"No, of course not," Victoria said.

"From the looks of those hands, I'd say some field work with Heath and me is in order," Nick said, "and I kinda like the idea of that."

"I can do my share," Dakota said. "Ranch work is what I've been doing for the past year."

"Anything special? Smithing, anything like that?"

Dakota shook his head. "Just some leather work, cutting cattle and horse breaking."

" _Horse_ breaking?!" Nick broke into a grin. "Now this I'm gonna have to see. The last time you tried to break a horse – well, here, anyway – you broke your leg instead."

"I guess you're not out of practice anymore," Heath said.

"It's what they've called on me for a lot at the Carlisle spread," Dakota said. "That and the leatherwork and cutting cattle. Seems I had a knack for those."

Silas came into the living room, smiling. "Dinner is served, Mrs. Barkley."

"Thank you, Silas," Victoria said, and got up, taking Dakota by the arm and leading the way into the dining room with him – which he thought was a good thing, since he had no idea where it was.

Once in there, Dakota was stunned by the furniture and place settings and all the silverware he had no idea how to use. Not to mention, he had no idea where to sit, but it was Nick who solved that. He pulled the chair out at the end of the table opposite Victoria. "Big Brother," he said, "take your rightful place back."

Dakota sat down with a deep breath – and looked at all the silverware.

Heath noticed as he sat down. "Just work from the outside in," he said quietly. "Desert fork and coffee spoon are at the top."

Dakota smiled his thanks.

As the black man ladled some soup into the soup bowl in front of Dakota, he said, "Welcome home, Mr. Jarrod."

"Thank you, Silas," Dakota said.

And then he enjoyed the heck out of his dinner.

XXXXXXX

It was Nick who led Dakota to his old room when time to go to bed rolled around. Dakota stepped inside the room and stopped – it was so big, as big as the Mathews' entire living room and kitchen combined. The few pieces of furniture were rich, solid wood, like the paneling on the walls. The bed was made and turned down, and there was a nightshirt laid out there for him.

"I thought I didn't have any clothes left here," Dakota said.

"The nightshirt's mine," Nick said, "and there's some fresh underwear in the chifferobe there, brand new. I bought them and haven't used them yet."

Dakota wasn't sure what a chifferobe was, but Nick pointed, and he nodded.

"I suspect Mother and Audra will want to take you shopping for new clothes tomorrow," Nick said. Then he checked to be sure there was water in the pitcher for the basin, both on the dresser. There was plenty. "Well," Nick said then. "You know where the kitchen is now if you get hungry during the night, and you know where the wc is. We usually gather for breakfast at five."

Dakota nodded. "I'm usually up about four. I'll clean up early."

"All right, then," Nick said and stood awkwardly for a moment before he headed for the door. "Good night."

"Nick – " Dakota said.

Nick stopped.

Dakota fumbled for words, and finally said, "I know you didn't find me, but thanks for coming to look. I'm sorry I left you all thinking I was dead."

Nick turned back toward him. "We gave you a fine memorial service. Half the county came."

Dakota chuckled. "Sorry I missed it. Sorrier still you had to have it. I'm sure Mrs. Barkley – " He stopped. "Well, I'm sure she took things pretty hard."

Nick said, "She was more upset because we really didn't know what had happened to you. She always thought you'd come home someday, and son of a gun if you didn't."

"I kinda get the feeling that that lady calls most of the shots around here."

"She usually gets what she wants. I guess even God knows that."

"Well, good night, Nick."

"See you in the morning, Dakota."

Nick closed the door after he went out, leaving Dakota standing in the middle of the room. He looked all around, still wishing that something around here would look familiar, but nothing did. No one did.

He went to the chifforobe and found the underclothes Nick had mentioned, but that was all that was in there. Nothing at all was hanging in the part where you hang suits like the one he wore in the newspaper photo. He saw a desk and went to it, hoping there was something personal that was still in it, something that might jog his memory. He found a framed picture in one of the drawers, a photo of him with these other people who were his family, including a young man he did not know who must have been Eugene. It made him smile, but he did not remember it. There was nothing else in the desk, nothing at all. There was nothing at all in the dresser. In the little table beside the bed, where the lamp was lit, he found a small drawer, but it was empty. There was no other furniture in the room for him to look through.

Apparently, when he disappeared, they got rid of everything about him. Of course they did. Why be reminded of someone who was dead?

He put the lamp out and undressed in the dark.

XXXXXXX

The next day, Victoria and Audra took Dakota into Stockton to get him new clothes. He was skittish enough about that, but when the first thing they did was go to the bank, he began to feel downright nervous.

"Dakota," Victoria said, stopping outside the bank. "I need to explain something. After you disappeared and we believed – " She stumbled on the words. "And we believed you were dead, we got the proper legal authority and sold your property in San Francisco."

He frowned. "I had property in San Francisco?"

"Yes," Victoria said. "We sold it, but we put the funds into a separate bank account just in case – in case you came back. The money that was in your private account, we put into the same account. And here you are. We need to go in here and move the funds into a private account in your name."

He felt uneasy, and he looked it.

"We can do this another time if you'd rather," Victoria said.

"No," Dakota said. "No, I suppose we ought to – well, maybe we ought to wait a bit." He didn't know how to say that he wasn't sure yet if he would be staying, but that was the first thing that came into his mind. "I think I'd rather wait a bit."

Victoria looked as disappointed as she was. She understood exactly why he was hesitating. She smiled and nodded anyway. "All right."

They shopped for some new clothes for him then, but he found his discomfort growing even more. Not because of the banking issue. Not because he was shopping for clothes with unfamiliar women. Because now, as he was in town and walking around with Victoria and Audra, he began to be overwhelmed at the number of people who approached them and gushed that Jarrod was home. Victoria kept having to explain that he was home, but his memory was damaged. She kept introducing him to people who were disappointed that he did not know them. After a day of trying on new pants and shirts and picking out underwear and sleeping garb and smiling at total strangers who seemed to love him, Dakota was beginning to feel like he was choking.

Then the sheriff approached, and he backed right into the surrey he had just put all the packages in. There was no real sensible reason for his reaction. He was just exhausted from all the explanations, and now here came the sheriff.

"My God, it's true!" the sheriff said and broke into a smile that helped ease Dakota's mind. "Jarrod Barkley, it is so good to see you!"

The sheriff reached for Dakota's hand and shook it warmly. Dakota felt a bit more at ease, but before Victoria could start explaining again he said, "I'm sorry, sheriff, but I need to tell you that my memory is faulty. I don't know who you are and I go by Dakota these days, not Jarrod Barkley – not yet, anyway."

Fred Madden looked only a little surprised. "So I've heard from a big portion of the people in town. I'm Fred Madden. I just want to welcome you home, let you know if you need anything while you're in town – well, I know you don't know it, but you and I go back a number of years. I'm around if you need anything."

"Fred, any chance you can come for dinner tomorrow night?" Victoria asked. "Just family, but we'd love having you out at the ranch again. It's been a while."

"I'd be happy to come," Sheriff Madden said. "I can catch Dakota up on a few things that are going on around here. Make you feel a bit less like a stranger."

Dakota nodded. "That would help, sheriff, thank you."

Sheriff Madden tipped his hat to the ladies. "Till tomorrow night, then – about six?"

"About six," Victoria repeated.

As the sheriff walked away, Victoria turned toward Dakota. "It never hurts to make friends with the sheriff, even if you are making friends for a second time."

"He's a very good sheriff," Audra said. "You and he have worked a lot together in the past – even though sometimes you have really raked him over the coals on the witness stand."

"Oh?" Dakota asked with a smile as he helped the ladies into the surrey.

Audra took the back seat, saying, "You were a pretty dogged cross examiner in court."

Victoria took the front seat, and Dakota climbed in beside her, taking the reins. "I hope I didn't look like I was having too much fun."

Victoria laughed. "Sometimes you did, I'm afraid," she said as Dakota slapped the reins and the surrey moved forward.

"Did he ever get me back by arresting me for something?" Dakota asked.

"Not even once," Victoria said with a grin.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Late at night, at home on the ranch, Victoria went downstairs because she noticed light coming under her door that she didn't expect. She went into the hall and saw it was coming from downstairs. Something told her she knew who was down there. She went down the stairs, and there he was – sitting in his old thinking chair, just as if he had never been away.

Something about seeing him there was actually comforting. Oh, she wasn't deluding herself that he was remembering he was supposed to be there. That was too much to ask. It was just as if he had fallen into a habit he didn't even remember he had.

Victoria went over to him, touching his back, then sitting down on the coffee table in front of him. He smiled at her.

"Can't sleep?" she asked.

"Having some trouble," he admitted. "You?"

"I woke up and saw the light. You know, whenever you've been troubled, I've found you late at night in this chair. We all started calling it 'Jarrod's thinking chair.'"

He chuckled at that. "It's a comfortable chair."

"It's nearly two in the morning," Victoria said.

"I knew it was pretty late, but I'll be all right in the morning. Nick and Heath would like me to help cutting the calves out for branding."

"You know, they're getting a kick out of the thought of having you work with them on the ranch. You seldom did before."

Dakota smiled. "From the picture in the paper, I'm not surprised to learn that. And you said I lived in San Francisco. Seems I'm more a city man than a ranch hand, though I really find that hard to believe."

"Your father always wanted you to run the ranch, but I saw an intelligence in you that I wasn't seeing in Nick. I thought sending you to law school would be a good idea – save us money in legal fees and other professional fees. I was right, or so I thought. Perhaps the rancher has been deep down inside of you all along."

"Was I happy being a lawyer?"

"You seemed to enjoy it, but you pretty much enjoyed working the ranch when you helped out, too. You had one foot in one world and one foot in another, but you seemed to like it that way."

Dakota sobered a little and looked into the fireplace. "I've been wondering how I could possibly resume a legal career when I've lost all memory of how to do it."

"Do you want to resume it?"

"To be honest, I don't know what I want. I mean, you've all been wonderful to me, since the minute I turned up at the door, but – I don't know. I'm a little uncomfortable here."

"I thought so, from the way you acted in town today. You seemed a bit overwhelmed at times."

Dakota nodded. "I was. I suppose it'll take time for me to feel like I belong here, and I'm sorry, it's just not happening very fast."

"You may be the only one who feels like he needs to rush it." Victoria looked closely into the blue eyes she knew so well but that did not know her. He hadn't once called her 'Mother'. He hadn't called her anything yet. "Give it some time. Give us a chance. Give yourself a chance. I know the temptation to go running out the door and never look back is very strong, but don't do it, not yet. You've only been here a little more than a day."

Dakota chuckled. "So I keep reminding myself. But to believe that I actually lived here, grew up here, belonged here – I can't say it was the life I was expecting to find when I hoped I would find it. It is overwhelming."

Victoria stood up and kissed his forehead. "There are many things you have to learn yet, and many things we have to learn about you. Be patient, Dakota. We will be. We're just so happy you're alive."

Her voice closed on that last word. Dakota reached for her hand and squeezed it. "I'll be patient," he said. "And I'll see you in the morning, before I show off my cutting skills. I don't think Nick will believe it until he sees it."

Victoria chuckled. "You're right about that. With Nick, only seeing is believing. Good night, Ja – " She nearly said it. She stopped. "Good night, Dakota."

"Good night," he said as she started back upstairs.

He listened to her go, hearing the rustling of her gown as she went up the stairs. She was a very nice woman, someone he would have dreamed of having as a mother, if he had ever dreamed of such things. But all this – the people, the place, the wealth – he never dreamed of all this.

It was really tough to swallow.

XXXXXXXX

Come morning, Nick and Heath helped Dakota pick out a good cutting horse, and in a little bit they were all out with the herd. Cutting calves from the herd had become so second nature to Dakota now that he thought it was something he'd done regularly before he lost his memory. But Nick couldn't believe what he was seeing. "I never thought Pappy had this in him. He's really good at it."

"I'm not completely surprised," Heath said as they watched Dakota cut another calf from the herd and run it over to where the branding was going on. "He always was a good rider. I used to watch him move a horse around sometimes. He's really at ease with it, always has been since I've been around."

"Maybe he should have been the rancher and me the lawyer." Nick said that with a wink.

Heath spurted out a laugh. "No, Nick, I think Mother and Father got it right the first time around. Lawyering was never for you."

McCall rode up beside them just then, saying, "Boy, Nick, I know you don't remember this but when Jarrod was a kid, maybe eleven or twelve, he could cut a calf out of a herd like nobody's business. Watching him today is bringing back memories for me, even if they're not coming back for him."

"If he was so good at this, why did they send him to law school?" Nick asked.

McCall laughed. "Well, they weren't about to send you. You and school books never did get along. I always reckoned it was because Jarrod got along with them so well. The two of you had your rivalry, but you always did want to be different from your older brother, and he wanted to be different from you."

Nick suddenly remembered that and said, "Hm. Yeah, you're right. I wasn't too keen on the idea of living up to whatever it was Jarrod was doing. I was glad when he decided to be a lawyer, because I sure didn't want to be one."

Nick's smile as he watched his older brother work made Heath smile, and remember. When they couldn't find Jarrod, when they all had to accept that he wasn't coming back, Nick had been devastated, but he had been a rock for them. He took care of closing up Jarrod's office and selling the books and furniture. He took care of comforting their mother when she woke up crying at night. He did his own grieving privately, but he did it, Heath knew. Now Nick's happiness at having his brother back - even if he wasn't entirely back yet - was almost bursting out of him.

"Yeah, it does fill a hole, him being back, even if he is Dakota and not Jarrod," Heath said.

"He's Jarrod," McCall said. "He hasn't accepted it yet, but he will. In the meantime, we can just be glad we have a new cutter. who's actually good at it."

McCall rode off back to work, and Nick and Heath followed along.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Nick handed Dakota a glass of whiskey as his older brother sat down in his old "thinking chair." Victoria and Audra were already enjoying sherry. Heath had yet to come down from cleaning up after a long day of branding. Nick took his own glass of whiskey to the fireplace, saying, "Yeah, you should have seen this guy cutting those calves out. He was so fast at it, we could hardly keep up with the branding."

"I told you, I've been doing a lot of cutting work," Dakota said. "I guess practice made me pretty good."

"Where all did you work on your way from Rockville to Ely?"

"Oh, a few smaller spreads, and some bigger ones," Dakota said. "Mr. Carlisle had a pretty big spread, but nothing as big as this one. I have to admit, I enjoyed working with a herd this size. Made for a bit of a challenge, and I discovered a while back that I enjoy a challenge."

"You always did," Audra said. "I remember watching you in court a few times. You seem to like it best when a witness said something you didn't expect and you had to do some fast thinking."

Dakota smiled, but didn't say anything. He had no memory whatsoever of being in court. He really couldn't believe it had ever happened, and he couldn't believe he actually liked it. He tried looking at some of the legal books they still kept in the library - they were meaningless to him. And lawyering didn't seem to fit in with the person he was now. Yet, something inside him was disappointed, sorry that he couldn't remember it, sorry in some odd way that he couldn't remember how to do it. He didn't really understand why, but there it was.

"Nick, do you have plans for Dakota tomorrow?" Victoria asked.

"We need to finish the branding," Nick said. "Sure plan to have your help, Dakota."

Dakota nodded as he swallowed a sip of whiskey. "I'll be there – but you also have some fencing to fix I noticed while I was chasing one of those calves."

"Yeah, I know," Nick said. "I was planning to send a couple men out to do that tomorrow. Hopefully we won't have to be chasing down any more cattle that get out."

Heath came downstairs and into the living room, heading for the refreshment table. "Boy, howdy, it feels good to be really clean for a change." He had taken a bath and had a shave. He felt human again as he poured himself a whiskey and sat down in the chair beside Dakota's.

"Think I'll take a bath myself tomorrow," Dakota said. There was a strop in the wc. He decided he could hone his razor good tomorrow – it needed it.

There came a knock at the front door, and Silas appeared from the dining room to answer it.

"I'll bet that's Fred Madden," Victoria said, put her sherry down on the coffee table and got up. As she headed for the door to greet her guest, all of her children stood up.

Silas said, "Good evening, Sheriff," and let the sheriff in the door.

Sheriff Madden came in with his hat in his hands and a smile, but there was something reserved about him. Silas took his hat, and Victoria offered her hand. The sheriff took it, saying, "Good evening, Victoria. Thank you for inviting me over."

"You look like you've had a long day, Fred," Victoria said, and over her shoulder she said, "Nick, would you pour Fred a drink?"

"Whiskey, Fred?" Nick asked as he headed for the table.

"Yes, Nick, thank you," the sheriff said.

Heath offered the sheriff the chair he'd been in, and the sheriff sat down after the women did.

"It was a difficult day," the sheriff said, "one I need to talk to you all about. Jarrod – Dakota – I know you don't remember this, but about eight years ago, when you were just beginning your practice and you were an assistant district attorney, you prosecuted a man named Harold James."

Dakota not only didn't remember, he couldn't believe he had ever prosecuted anyone at all. "You're right, sheriff. I don't remember that." And again, he felt that odd disappointment.

"Well, trust me, you did, and you got him convicted on an assault charge. He attacked one of the saloon girls, young woman name Hattie. She's since moved out of the area. Anyway, James was convicted, but he's been pardoned by the governor, and he showed up back in town today."

"Why is that a problem?" Dakota asked.

"There's the regular worry you get when somebody like this shows up. You have to keep an eye on them at first to make sure they're not gonna cause trouble again."

"But James threatened Jarrod when he was convicted," Victoria said.

Sheriff Madden nodded.

Nick was frowning. He remembered that about James, too. "You don't think he's here to make good on that threat, do you, Fred?"

"I don't know," the sheriff said, looking at Dakota, "but you'd better watch your brother's back for a while."

"I never met this James fellow," Nick said. "None of us did. I wouldn't know who he is."

"I'm pretty good at watching my own back, Sheriff," Dakota said. "Don't worry too much about me."

"I wasn't here for any of that," Heath said. "Just how dangerous do you think this James fellow is?"

"No telling, Heath," the sheriff said. "It might have been just an idle threat back then. He might be over it by now. Or he might have nursed it. But I really didn't want to bring a cloud over this nice evening you invited me to. So far, James hasn't been a problem at all, and he's sure not gonna be this evening. I say, let's have a toast to something better – to Jarrod coming home safe after all this time. Dakota – glad to have you back."

"Here, here," Nick said as everyone raised their glasses.

Dakota smiled his thanks, but even though he didn't feel any particular danger from this James character, he knew his family felt it for him. In a way, he was touched. In another way, he wished he hadn't come here just in time to attract trouble.

That front door was still available, and if he left before James caused problems, it would be better for the Barkleys. James would either follow him and take the trouble away, or he would do nothing and the trouble would still be gone. But Dakota really didn't want to go, not like this. The Barkleys would take it as hard as they had when he disappeared after Rockville. That wasn't fair to them. If he was going to leave, he'd have to tell them – but of course, if he told them, they would try to talk him out of leaving. There was no good answer to this problem. Dakota wondered what the best bad answer was.

XXXXXX

After another fine dinner and coffee, it was time for the sheriff to leave. Everyone saw him to the door and wished him a good night, but Dakota went out toward the stable yard with him. His family let him go. They had a feeling he wanted a private word with the sheriff.

And he did. "I want to ask you about this James fellow," Dakota said. "I'm a little concerned – not so much for myself, but for the Barkleys. I really don't want them getting into the middle of anything."

"I'm with you on that, Dakota," Sheriff Madden said. "I'm gonna do everything I can to keep that from happening."

"If I left here, do you think he'd follow me?"

Sheriff Madden stopped and looked at Dakota in the faint light from the house. "Don't you go thinking you need to leave. That's a really bad idea."

"Why?" Dakota asked. "I mean, the last thing I want to bring to these people is trouble."

"Trouble was when Nick and Heath went looking for you and came up empty," the sheriff said. "This whole valley mourned for you, Jarrod, but your family was devastated. It was weeks before your mother could even bring herself to come back to town, and then it was almost too much for her, all the people crying over her because we all thought you were dead. If you leave now, you're gonna put this family through all that again. That's not what you want."

Dakota sighed. "Sheriff, I'm a stranger here. I'm not the Jarrod Barkley who was part of this family. I'm not the lawyer who disappeared on these people. I don't know them, and they don't know me, but they've been kind and welcoming, and if anything happened to any of them because of me – "

"If you leave, something _will_ be happening to them. They'll be losing you all over again. Dakota, if you left here, you'd hurt them and you'd hurt you. If you left here now, you'd carry these people with you for the rest of your life, and you wouldn't have the luxury of not remembering they even existed this time. You keep yourself put, you watch out for yourself, you let your brothers and me watch out for you. There's no better way to handle this, short of me locking you up – which I have to admit I'd like to have done a few times, but not this time."

Dakota found himself smiling. "It's awfully hard to get used to having other people care about you when you've been the only one looking out for you for as long as you can remember. I've got an awful lot to learn about being in a family again."

"Then stick around and learn it," the sheriff said. "You always were a smart man, and that hasn't changed, I'm sure. And like I said yesterday – you need me, you come get me. We go back a long way. Friends can be as close as family."

Dakota nodded, and held his hand out. The sheriff took it. "I'll remember all of that, Sheriff."

"Fred," the sheriff said.

Dakota nodded again. "Fred."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The next day found Dakota concentrating on his work rather than on his concerns with Harold James, and the branding was finished by early afternoon. After a quick lunch at the chuck wagon, the Barkley brothers headed home to see whether some of their hands had brought a sizable feed order in from town. The men were stacking sacks of grain in one of the barns when the Barkleys got there.

A hand named March was overseeing the operation, which was just about finished when the Barkleys arrived. "Any problems?" Nick asked.

"No, not with the feed," March said. "Had a bit of a run-in with a fellow named James, though."

Dakota sat up straight in the saddle at the sound of the name.

"What kind of run-in?" Nick asked.

March nodded toward Dakota. "Man wanted to know where Jarrod – Dakota – was. We told him Dakota was working elsewhere, if it was any of his business. When he started sounding threatening, we told him to keep his bad feelings to himself, or he'd regret it. And we got into a bit of a shuffle in front of the feed store. Sheriff had to break it up."

"I appreciate your looking out for me, but you didn't need to," Dakota said. "Don't get yourselves arrested on my account."

"No problem, Dakota," March said with a smile. "It wasn't really on your account we got into it. We just wanted to."

"Still, be careful about it," Nick said. "We don't know what to make of this James fellow yet. Don't want anybody getting shot, either."

"Okay, boss," March said. "We'll be done stacking this feed in a few minutes. You want us out with the herd?"

"Get yourself some food and rest and then head out for night herd," Nick said. "You can all have tomorrow night off in town, if you swear to steer clear of James."

"Happy to," March said.

The Barkley men went on to the stable and let Ciego have their horses before they went into the house. Victoria was arranging flowers on the piano when they came in. "Oh, good, you're early," she said and came toward them. "Who wants to volunteer to help me weed the flower garden?"

"I'll do that," Heath said, "as long as the two of you get a bath and clean clothes. You smell bad."

Dakota and Nick just looked at each other. "Must be you," Nick said. "I smell like a rose."

"You smell like a cow," Victoria said.

"Audra's not in the tub, is she?" Nick asked as he and Dakota headed up the stairs.

"She's gone to the orphanage but should be back in an hour or so," Victoria said.

The Barkley men looked startled. "You let her go alone?" Nick asked.

Victoria said, "Silas went with her, and they promised to check in with the sheriff as soon as they got there. Silas is fixing a special lunch for the children – it's Sister Thomas's birthday today."

Satisfied, Nick and Dakota headed upstairs while Victoria and Heath headed out the back for the garden. "Orphans?" Dakota asked as he climbed the stairs with Nick.

"Audra's helped out at the orphanage since we had a bad influenza epidemic a few years ago," Nick explained. "We lost a few local parents and their children needed help. Audra started and she's just kept at it. She says it was because she was too young to help out with the children orphaned during the war, when you and I were back east in the army, so she's doing it now."

The war. Dakota had heard others talk about it, but until now he hadn't realized he'd gone to serve himself. But now, some of the scars he carried – that he didn't know how he got - actually made sense.

Nick could tell Dakota didn't remember any of that. "I'll tell you about it later, if the ladies aren't around. They don't like hearing us tell war stories."

"Do we have that many?" Dakota asked.

"Plenty," Nick said, "but we just don't talk about it much around here. Mother didn't really want either of us to go, but we both got stubborn. You went in '61 and stayed for the duration. I went in '64 and '65. It wasn't a happy time for the family."

"For anybody's family, I'd guess," Dakota said.

"You'd guess right."

XXXXXX

Dakota hadn't been able to soak in a nice hot tub ever before, to his memory anyway. He discovered he liked it. The hot water made his muscles relax nicely, and the moisture softened up his beard so that a shave afterward really felt smooth. Nick gave him first crack at the tub, so that Nick was soaking when Dakota dressed and came downstairs.

Victoria and Audra were there at the piano when he came down. Heath was nowhere to be seen, but Dakota figured he might be cleaning up in his room. Dakota stopped at the bottom of the stairs, listening to Victoria and Audra playing and singing some song he'd never heard before – at least to his knowledge. He wandered over behind them and looked at the sheet music they were playing and singing to. Stephen Foster. Dakota knew the name – somebody in a bar somewhere was playing his music on the piano and Dakota asked.

"Care to sing with us, Dakota?" Audra asked.

"I can't sing," he said with a chuckle. "Unless I'm very drunk."

"How do you know until you try?" Victoria asked.

"Oh, I know," he said. "I learned that on a bet in a saloon near Reno. The more sober members of the crowd cost me twenty dollars when I sang sober, but I won it back when I sang after having a few drinks."

Victoria and Audra laughed.

Victoria got up, but Audra kept playing. Dakota felt his mother take his arm, and he even put his arm around her. That surprised her but pleased her no end. "How did your day go?" she asked.

"Not bad," he said. "Found out a few of the hands got into a fight in town with this James character. I told them I didn't want them to get arrested on my account, so that little problem should be cleared up."

They sat down together on the settee. "I hope you're not worried about James."

"No, I'm not," he said. "Just don't you be."

"This isn't the first defendant who's threatened you. I never like it, but after the third one, I quit worrying very much."

Dakota's eyebrows went up. "How many have there been?"

"When you were first beginning with the District Attorney, it seemed like every defendant who was convicted in one of your cases was threatening you. Trying to unnerve you, I suppose, but you've never been a man to be unnerved."

"I'll be cautious anyway," Dakota said. "I have no desire to meet my maker now that I've met my family."

"Have you given any more thought to accepting the money in the bank we set aside for you?" Victoria asked.

"I – still don't think I'm ready for that," Dakota said, to Victoria's disappointment. "Don't think I don't appreciate it. It's just I'm not ready. Maybe in a week or two."

"All right," Victoria said and patted his hand. "I'll leave you alone about it until then."

Dakota listened to the waltz Audra was playing, and then his face screwed up and he asked Victoria, "Do I dance?"

Victoria laughed. "You're a very good dancer."

Dakota stood up, taking her hand. "I might need a little refresher lesson."

"Well, let me be your teacher."

Together they waltzed around the living room. Dakota smiled and didn't step on Victoria's toes at all. When Audra heard them, she looked over her shoulder and saw them smiling at each other. She grinned from ear to ear and played on and on.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A week later, the Barkleys took delivery of three wild stallions, sold to them by a pair of brothers who had done business with the Barkley family for many years. As Nick signed off on the deal and his men got the stallions corralled in separate enclosures, he mentioned that he was looking forward to seeing his older brother take a crack at one of them. The two brothers who sold him the horses started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Nick asked, perfectly innocently.

"Jarrod? Break a wild stallion?" one of the brothers said and they both started laughing again. "What did he do? Fall on his head? Or did you?"

Nick shared the laugh. "Things have changed a bit around here. You'd be surprised at a lot about my brother that's changed."

"Well, here's hoping the horse is the only thing he breaks," the other brother said, and the two of them were on their way.

Nick took a walk among the three corrals, watching the horses stomp and paw, hoping they had the corrals far enough apart. Walking among them, Nick felt like they were miles apart – and he began to worry about agreeing to let Jarrod have a crack at one or more of them. Sure, life had dealt him more changes than just his name, but breaking a wild stallion? Nick just wasn't sure.

About half an hour after the sellers left, Dakota and Heath came riding along and joined their brother. "What do you think?" Nick asked as the three of them looked over a wild paint who was being especially difficult to handle. The three ranch hands trying to calm him had already traded off twice, having been knocked into the dirt on their rear ends.

"Nice," Dakota said. "When do you want to start breaking them?"

"Gonna try to gentle them a bit today and tomorrow, then see about the day after," Nick said.

Heath looked far across the field to the other two corrals. "How much time did the sellers have with them?"

"One a week, the other two more like ten days."

"That oughtta be more than enough," Dakota said. "Day after tomorrow ought to give them the time to get used to being here."

"Which one do you want to try first, Dakota?" Nick asked with a smirk that masked a little worry.

Dakota gave a smile back. "Let me have a look," he said and galloped on to the second corral.

"You really gonna let him try to break one of these animals?" Heath asked.

"He says he can do it," Nick said. "And you've seen it – he's changed. He's a lot more of a ranch hand than he used to be. Yeah, I'm worried, but I say we give him a shot."

"You're betting against him, though, aren't you?"

"Yeah, probably, just to be ornery," Nick smiled. "But I think we ought to give him a chance, let him be that ranch hand he is now. We try to change who he is too fast – we might lose him."

Heath grunted an agreement. He knew their older brother was not the man they lost a year earlier, and that he might not want to be. He'd led a different life this past year, and he seemed to like it. Push him to go back to being Jarrod Barkley, Attorney – or push him too quickly – and he might bolt. Heath knew he himself would have, if he were in Dakota's shoes.

Nick mounted up, and he and Heath caught up with Dakota at the third corral. Dakota looked out across the fields at the other two corrals and pointed to the second one, which held a horse that looked like it had a little Appaloosa in it. "I'll take that one. I break him, I keep him, right?"

"All right," Nick agreed. "But when you're cutting, you still ride that cutter you picked out, right?"

Dakota nodded. "You say I never used to break horses, huh?"

"Well, not never, but not any time in – oh, the last few years," Nick said.

Dakota nodded again. "Guess I'll have to show you what I can do now."

XXXXXXX

The next evening found Dakota on the veranda after dinner, smoking a cigar and staring at the stars. It had been a good dinner, and he found he was content, maybe for the first time since he'd come here. He remembered that every time he moved on to a new place, it took him a while to settle in, but he did settle. He was settling in with the Barkleys now.

But this place was different. Here he was settling into a family, not just a workplace. Was he settling in in that way? Did he feel like a Barkley yet? He thought about how he could answer that question for himself, and it led him to think about the bank account they wanted to put into his name – his name Jarrod Barkley. Was he ready for that? He had told Victoria "maybe in a week or two." Well, now it was the next week. Was he ready? If he was, why did it make him feel so uneasy just to think about doing it?

In a moment he came away from his thoughts and realized he wasn't alone. Victoria was behind him, and when he turned and saw her, she touched his shoulder for a bit. "We were wondering where you got to."

"Found a good cigar in the library, in the desk," Dakota said. "Didn't want to smoke it in the house."

"You may do that. You always did before."

"Did I? Well, I guess I just developed a new habit, smoking outside. I've been rolling my own cigarettes with tobacco that doesn't smell that good, so I've always taken it outside of the bunkhouses. I can't remember smoking something this nice."

"How are you doing? You haven't talked about it much, but are you feeling any more comfortable here?"

"With some things. The work, but I guess that makes sense, I'd get comfortable with that first."

"And the family?"

He smiled a little, "That's taking a little longer. I'm still trying to understand who I was, where I fit in. I'm not sure I can really be that man anymore, so where I fit in – well, I'm still struggling. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It's only been a week. And no one expects you to be the man you were before. Dakota has had different experiences than Jarrod Barkley had."

"It's not just me getting used to you, or even me getting used to the man Jarrod Barkley was. You have to get used to me, too, as I am. It's not just me deciding on you. You all have to decide on me, too."

"No, no," Victoria said quickly. "You are still basically the same man you always were – kind, decent, determined, faithful to the people who love you. Many things have changed, but those haven't."

Dakota gave a long drag on the cigar and breathed out the smoke. "I intend to break one of the stallions tomorrow. Jarrod Barkley would not do that."

"Oh, he was known to try, but no, that wasn't his way when he left here a year ago. It is your way. The thing is – the determination and the courage to approach that horse – that is you, and it was Jarrod. That's the sort of thing that is still the same."

"There's something else I need to talk to you about."

"The bank account?"

"No, not that. Not yet. I want to talk to you about this James character who is supposed to be out to get me."

Victoria hesitated, but she said, "All right."

"Were you there when he threatened me?"

"No. None of us was. It was the sheriff we had then – Sheriff Lyman – who told us."

"How did I react to it?"

Victoria sighed. "Since he was going off to prison, none of us gave it much thought at all. He wasn't the first who'd threatened you. Like the rest of us, you were beginning to get used to it. Is it bothering you now?"

"No, but I'm concerned about it bothering you. I haven't had anyone to worry about me for the past year. That's a bit lonely, but it's also a bit liberating. I've been able to deal with threats without having to worry about anyone else having to pick up the pieces."

"And how have you done it?"

"Usually, I confront the threat head on. So far, a fist fight here and there is as far as anything's gone. But I haven't backed down. I never had to care if I lost the fight or not, because there was no one depending on me. Now it's a bit different. I have this family to worry about."

Victoria nodded and touched his shoulder again. "One thing about this family you may have guessed – we don't back down from a threat either. That's how your father died – fighting a threat from the railroad. You faced another threat from the railroad with your brothers, when Heath came here. It cost you a nasty arm wound, but it gained us a brother – Heath. We don't back down, at least not easily. You be who you believe you are now when it comes to this threat from James. I can tell you, the man you say you are now is the same as the son I raised, at least when it comes to dealing with men who threaten him."

Dakota smiled and put an arm around Victoria. With a squeeze, he kissed her forehead. "I'm still not ready to be called Jarrod Barkley, and for that reason I've found it awkward to call you Mother, but I think I want to do that from now on, if it's all right. May I call you Mother?"

Victoria felt tears come, and she did not fight them. "I would like that very much."

Dakota kissed her forehead again. "Wish me luck on that stallion tomorrow."

"Oh, I do. I'm betting you'll have no trouble breaking him."

"Betting?"

"Well, there's a little wager going on in the living room this evening. Nick isn't ready to bet on you yet, but the rest of us are backing you."

"Well, if Nick is the one doubting me, I'll just have to show him good."

Victoria nodded. "You will, and it will earn each of the rest of us a dollar."

Dakota had to laugh. "I think I'd like to go back inside and get in on some of that action."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Dakota's bet with Nick was a bit more convoluted, since Dakota had not been paid yet for his work and he had little cash. Dakota suggested that if he broke the horse, Nick would pay him twice the wages he was due on the spot. If Dakota could not break the horse, he would forego any wages he'd earned up to that point.

Nick was a bit taken aback by the suggested bet, mainly because he hadn't considered that he would be paying his brother any wages at all. He had assumed Dakota's funds would come from the accounts at the bank, but then he didn't know that so far, Dakota was refusing those moneys. When he found out that Dakota had very little money left from his wages at the Carlisle spread, Nick agreed to the bet. Secretly, he hoped he'd be paying off on it, but outwardly he razzed his brother about it. "You're gonna be hitting the dirt so much that your back pockets are gonna be peeled off and you won't have anyplace to put any money anyway."

"We'll see, Nick, but I think you're in for a shock," Dakota said. "But to lessen the pain, what say we go into town after I break that stallion and I'll buy you a beer. If I don't break him, you buy."

"You're on," Nick said quickly.

But Victoria had heard something different. "How do you plan to deal with Harold James if he threatens you in town?"

"Like I told you, head on," Dakota said. "Is there really any other way to deal with somebody like that?"

Victoria worried for a moment, but then she remembered all her advice about how Barkleys face threats, and she knew Dakota had to handle James his own way. It just happened that it was the Barkley way, so she just said, "Be very careful."

"James is probably just full of hot air, Mother," Nick said. "He won't take on the three of us."

"And we'll have other hands with us," Heath said. "Nothing will happen tomorrow night."

Victoria smiled and nodded, but Audra remained concerned. "We just don't want to lose our big brother now that we're getting him back."

Dakota was a little uncomfortable with the way Audra put that. He didn't feel like the big brother who was coming back, not yet. But he didn't say anything to contradict her. He only said, "I'll be careful. I promise."

The women nodded, and the subject of Harold James was dropped.

XXXXX

The next day, a fairly large crowd of ranch hands watched as Dakota climbed into the saddle of the stallion he'd picked out. A few minutes and three times bucked off later, Dakota eased the horse around the corral in a gentle gallop, and he spent more time teaching the horse how to react to the reins and how to accept a kick in the side without bucking.

As Dakota got the stallion somewhat used to him, Heath held his hand out to the brother standing beside him. "Pay up, Nick."

Nick handed him a dollar. "Gonna owe Dakota a lot more. I really didn't think he could do it."

"I had faith," Heath said. "What you forgot is that Brother Jarrod tends to accomplish what he works at, and he's been working at this for a year."

 _A year he was lost to us, a year we don't know anything about_ , Nick thought. Watching his older brother guide his new horse around, he suddenly missed the old Jarrod so much he thought he was going to cry. But this Jarrod – this Jarrod was something else, something new, maybe the something he'd have been if he'd never become a lawyer. Maybe the rancher his father always wanted him to be but gave up to gain a lawyer. Which Jarrod was the one that really should have been?

Dakota ultimately dismounted and handed the horse off to the handler who'd been caring for him. "I don't think he's ready for the stable yet. I'll come here and saddle and ride him a bit tomorrow and we'll see."

Dakota came over to his brothers then, and with a big smile, held his hand out to Nick. "Got my earnings, Boss?"

Nick smirked, reached into his pocket, and peeled off the appropriate number of bills from his money clip.

"Ah, it's good to have some cash again," Dakota said and pocketed the money. "When do you boys want to go into town for a beer?"

"I'm ready now," Nick said. "Maybe I'll have more luck at a poker table than I've had out here."

XXXXXX

Luck at the poker table was not going Nick's way either – it was going Heath's and Dakota's. It seemed like between the two of them, they were winning half the pots, and the two other men at the table were winning the rest. One of the men was Carl Wheeler, a good friend of Nick's who had known Jarrod most of his life. It took him a few minutes to get used to Dakota, but as soon as Dakota started taking his money, Carl was getting to know him well. The other man was someone no one knew, a man not too friendly who was a stranger in town.

None of them knew the man was Harold James. Only Dakota had ever seen him before, and of course, Dakota could not remember him. When asked his name, he just said, "Hal." He said next to nothing after that.

The game went on, but Nick ran low on money and had to back out first. He went up to the bar and bought himself another beer, then watched from a distance until Sheriff Madden came in. Nick gave him a smile. "Evening, Fred."

"Nick," the sheriff said and looked down on the poker game. "They cleaned you out, huh?"

"Between this game and the bet I lost to Dakota this morning, I am a little low on funds."

The sheriff was watching the game when the man named Hal looked up. Startled to see him at a poker table with Jarrod Barkley, he said, "There hasn't been any trouble, has there?"

"No," Nick said. "Should there be?"

"Do you know who that stranger at the table is?"

"Says his name is Hal, or something like that."

"Nick, that's Harold James."

Nick straightened up, glaring. "What?"

"That's Harold James," Sheriff Madden said. "Didn't you know?"

"I never met the man, and he was here before Heath's time," Nick said. "And Jarrod doesn't remember him."

The sheriff sighed. "I think I'll stick around here for a little bit. Game's winding down, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," Nick said, and he kept his glare solid on "Hal."

Dakota won the next two hands that Nick and the sheriff were watching, and then the game broke up. James left the saloon without another word. Dakota, Heath and Carl came up to the bar.

"One thing your brother hasn't forgotten is how to play poker," Carl said.

Dakota smiled. "An art I've had plenty of chance to perfect over the last year."

"Jarrod – " the sheriff said, then corrected himself, "Dakota – the other man at the table."

"Yeah?" Dakota asked. "What about him?"

"That was Harold James, Dakota. The man who threatened you."

"When did he threaten you?" Carl asked.

"So long ago, I have no memory of it," Dakota said. He raised an eyebrow, as did Heath and Carl. "Well, he never said anything threatening tonight, and I took a whole lot of his money."

The sheriff turned and left, saying, "I think I'll just remind him I'm watching."

"At least now we all know what he looks like," Heath said.

"We best be careful when we walk out of here," Nick said. "Fred will be keeping an eye on him, but I'd rather not take any chances."

"Let's give it another beer," Dakota said and signaled for one.

Carl and Heath each took one as well, and it was another 30 minutes before the four of them left the saloon together. Carl bid them good night and went down the street for his horse. The horses the Barkley men rode in were tethered right out in front of the saloon.

Heath scanned the street, looking for James and for the sheriff, but he didn't see either one. He let his brothers take the lead out of town, while he rode at the back, looking around. They got out of town without incident.

It was Nick who had been holding his breath too much. They were almost five miles out of town before he breathed normally again. "I'm glad we haven't seen hide nor hair of James since we left, but I can't believe we played poker with him most of the night and didn't know who he was."

"Sorry, but he didn't look familiar to me at all," Dakota said.

"Not your fault," Nick said. "Now he will."

Heath overheard them, and said, "Dakota, you're gonna have to keep your eyes open when you come into town with Mother and Audra tomorrow."

Dakota looked surprised. "Am I coming in with them tomorrow?"

Heath realized he'd let something out he probably shouldn't have. "They said they were going to hornswaggle you into helping with some shopping. Guess they haven't sprung that on you yet."

Dakota wondered if another attempt at a trip to the bank was in the offing, but he kept that to himself.

"Maybe it ought to be one of us that comes in with them, Heath," Nick said, then rapidly added, "just to be sure there's no trouble while the women are along."

"I'd have thought he'd have made a try for me tonight," Dakota said, "before we all got to know what he looks like."

"As far as I know, he doesn't know you don't remember him," Nick said.

"He probably knows now," Dakota said.

"That might add insult to injury," Heath said. "Might make him madder to know you don't recognize him. He doesn't know about your amnesia."

"He might have picked it up in town," Nick said. "That poker game may have been him scoping you out."

Dakota gave an uncertain grunt. "Tonight, I don't care much what it was. I'm just happy that this morning, I didn't have a dollar to my name, and tonight, I have nearly fifty." He gave his brothers a smug grin.

Heath laughed, and even Nick chuckled.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

At the breakfast table the next morning, Victoria asked if Dakota would accompany her and Audra to town. She did not bring up the bank issue, but secretly she was hoping that Dakota would bring it up when they got to town and he saw the place. Maybe that was too much to hope for, but maybe not.

"And we have to run by the orphanage, take them some cornmeal and apples," Audra said. "They need the first and they love the second, and I'd love for the children to meet you, Dakota. There are several – " She stopped. She nearly said there were several who weren't there before Jarrod went away, but somehow she thought that might bother Dakota.

Dakota wasn't curious why she stopped. Before he could say anything, Nick said, "Mother, we ran into Harold James last night. Maybe it would be a better idea if Heath or I went with you instead."

Victoria's eyes flashed. "You ran into James?"

"Played poker with him," Dakota said. "Heath and I won a lot of his money."

"He never said a word about who he was," Heath said, "and Nick and I never saw him before, so we didn't know. The sheriff came in and told us after he left."

"And there was no trouble at all with him," Dakota said. "I think we'll be all right in town today, Nick."

"So do I," Victoria said. "No man is going to go after another when two women are present. It's too – unmanly."

"Unmanly?" Nick said as Heath and Audra smirked. "Mother, if a man is out to get you, he won't care much if your mother is around."

"Why don't we check in with the sheriff when we get there and he can keep an eye on us," Dakota said. "James won't make a move if he thinks the law is watching."

Audra said, "Dakota has a point there."

"All right," Nick said with a sigh. "I'm out voted. But Dakota – you watch out for James, too, all right?"

"I will," Dakota said. "When do you want to leave, Mother?"

Dakota calling Victoria "Mother" surprised his siblings. He hadn't done that in front of them before. Audra smiled. Nick and Heath looked at each other before they smiled, too.

"About eight or so," Victoria said.

Dakota nodded. "I'll be ready."

XXXXXX

Victoria drove the wagon for herself and Audra, while Dakota went along beside them on horseback. He was riding the horse he originally had bought in town when he first arrived, not the cutting horse or the new stallion he had just broken. He thought idly that at some point he might sell this horse back to the livery, but that just danced around the edges of his mind. For now, he needed this horse.

When they stopped in front of the mercantile, Dakota tethered his horse, then helped his Mother and sister down off the wagon after tethering it. He took them inside the mercantile, but then said he'd go see the sheriff to let them know they were in town.

"We should be here for half an hour or so," Victoria said. "You'll be back before then, won't you?"

"I plan to be," Dakota said and went outside.

The sheriff's office wasn't very far away. It took Dakota only a couple minutes before he walked in there and found the sheriff at his desk. "Morning, Sheriff," Dakota said.

"Morning, Dakota," Sheriff Madden said. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

"My mother and sister are shopping and then plan to visit the orphans," Dakota said. "They asked me to come along, and Nick asked me to check in with you so you could keep an eye out for Harold James, make sure he doesn't give us any trouble."

Sheriff Madden nodded. "I'll watch for him, but chances are, if he goes for you, it won't be in town. I'd watch out when you're alone out in the country."

Dakota nodded. "I was careful coming in. I'll be careful going home, too."

The sheriff smiled, a funny smile.

"What?" Dakota asked.

"That's the first time you've called it home, around me, anyway," Sheriff Madden said. "You might not be getting your memory back, but maybe something is beginning to click for you."

Dakota chuckled a little. "Maybe you're right – Fred."

The sheriff smiled wider.

XXXXXXX

Their visit to town was uneventful, except for Dakota being surrounded by a score of little orphans he did not remember but who made him smile with their blunt but often funny questions about amnesia. As they were leaving, Dakota looked across the street and spotted the man he met as "Hal" the night before. He didn't say anything to Victoria or Audra, even though James spotted him, too. Dakota just made sure James saw that he was looking at him. He'd found in other situations that just knowing he'd been seen could keep a troublemaker under control.

Dakota hung back behind the wagon as they made their way home. He kept watch all around, especially when they came to a place that might create cover for someone who might want to ambush them. He watched for movement, for the glint of sunlight on metal, and he listened for the sound of a horse or even the sneeze or cough of a man. Nothing was happening. After they passed the sign for the Barkley ranch, Dakota relaxed a bit.

He felt safe. He felt like he was home. He remembered what the sheriff had said, and he knew it wasn't that he was remembering this was his home. He was making it his home all over again.

They arrived at the house, and Ciego took care of the horses and the wagon while another couple ranch hands helped unload the wagon. Dakota escorted his mother and sister into the house.

It wasn't until they were inside that Dakota realized that no one had mentioned the bank to him while they were in town. He had been so focused on Harold James that he just hadn't thought about it, but now, for some reason he did. Maybe because he'd just begun to notice he felt like this was his home. Maybe he was just beginning to believe that he wanted to stay.

They had taken lunch in town, so Dakota decided he ought to go check in with Nick and Heath out where the herd was being pastured. "All right," Victoria said. "Just be careful."

Dakota knew she was just showing concern because he'd be alone, but he didn't think James would bother him on Barkley property. It was too risky. "Don't worry," he said. "I will be."

He reclaimed his horse from Ciego and headed for the summer pasture, where he knew Nick and Heath were keeping the main herd. He didn't realize the route would take him near the edge of Barkley property. He didn't even think he wasn't safe until someone took a shot at him.

He heard the shot, and he was startled to find himself on the ground, watching his horse run away from him. He was even more startled to find blood on his left side, just above the belt. Then he was aware as fast as he could be. He rolled over into a ditch alongside the road, and he drew his gun. He looked. There were no trees close by, no rocks. Somebody had fired at him from a hillside off to the left. From a quick examination of his wound, he knew that somebody had to be ahead of him, too.

With only the ditch for cover and his horse disappearing into the distance, Dakota took a chance and fired his gun off three times. That would summon help - if there was anyone around to hear it - and it might just frighten his assailant away. He hunkered down in the ditch, and he started to hurt. He looked and he waited.

Not that far away, just over a ridge overlooking the herd, Heath turned toward Nick. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Nick asked. His hearing wasn't as good as Heath's, owing to spending more time near the artillery during the war.

"Three shots," Heath said, and he looked back toward home. "Somebody's in trouble."

Heath took off back the way the sound came from, Nick following, and as soon as they crested the hill, they saw Dakota's horse, down in the road slowing to a stop to graze. Dakota was not with it. They hurried down and secured it, then looked around.

"His horse was coming from the house," Nick said. "We better have a look."

They rode back in that direction, Heath trailing Dakota's horse along, and it wasn't long before they came across their older brother, face down in the ditch. He was still, but holding his gun in his hand.

"Jarrod!" Nick yelled as they jumped down to him and turned him over.

There was a big blood stain on the left side of his shirt.

"Dakota?" Nick tried, but Dakota did not stir.

"Let's get him up on your saddle in front of you," Heath said. "You head home. I'll get the doc."

"Yeah," Nick said.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Nick got Dakota home, and in less than an hour, Dakota was waking up to strange surroundings. It took him a bit to remember where he was, who the people looking at him were, but after a few breaths, things began to make sense. Then his side really hurt.

"Try not to move too much, darling," Victoria said. "The doctor isn't here yet, and you have a bullet in your side."

"I never saw him," Dakota said quietly.

"We heard those three shots you fired," Nick said.

"At least I kept some presence of mind for a while," Dakota said, and then he moaned and shifted in pain. He began to be afraid that he was going to die here in front of them, that he had only come home to die. "Did you find who shot me?"

"No," Nick said, "but I think we can all take a good guess who it was."

Dakota moaned and shifted again.

"I wish that doctor would get here," Dakota heard Nick say, and that was all he remembered until hours later, when he woke up still in his bed with only lamplight at the night table to see by. He did see Nick sitting beside the bed.

"How you feeling?" Nick asked.

Dakota's dry mouth stuck together, and his side hurt. "Like I've been shot."

"Bullet's out," Nick said. "You needed a blood transfusion, but I took care of that for you. You're gonna be all right. We don't really have to guess who did it, do we?"

"Has the sheriff been here?"

"Yeah, but since you couldn't talk yet, he didn't stay. Heath and I will go into town in the morning, but James is likely to be far away, even now."

"Probably," Dakota said. "Mother's probably having a fit, isn't she?"

"Mother rarely has fits, but yeah, she was upset. But once the doctor said you were in the clear, she cheered up. Gotta tell you, Brother Jarrod, you brought a lot of excitement with you when you came home."

Dakota smiled. "That wasn't my intention, but yeah, I did. I'm sorry, Nick."

"Don't be. When you were a lawyer, you had trouble following you around, too, and we can chalk this one up to you being a lawyer."

"Me being a lawyer," Dakota said softly. "I can't even remember that, Nick. I got shot for doing something I don't even remember how to do."

Nick felt sorry for his brother, maybe for the first time since he'd come home. "I don't know what to say, Pappy. I'd remember it for you if I could, but truth is it was a world you lived in without the rest of us. I never had any idea at all how you did what you were doing when you were doing it."

"But I was good at it?" Dakota asked.

"Oh, yeah, you sure seemed to be," Nick said. Then he smiled. "That's why all the garbage you helped convict hated you so much. We were all proud of you, too, real proud. And we still are. To go a whole year looking for yourself and never giving up, to come back here without any idea of what it would be like to rebuild a life you can't remember a thing about - you took on a whole mess of unknown. That's what you did as a lawyer - took on a whole mess of unknown and made it make sense under the law. Yeah, you were good at it, all right."

Dakota thought about all that, but it made his head spin. "I'm tired."

Nick smiled. "Go ahead and sleep. I'll be with you for another hour, and then it'll be Heath. We'll look after you."

Dakota drifted off into the comfort of those words, smiling. Nick smiled back silently.

XXXXXXX

Only a few days later, Dakota was up and around, albeit slowly and gingerly. His side still hurt, especially when he moved, but it wasn't bad. He was even the one to reach the front door first when the knock came. He found one very surprised sheriff there.

"Well, look who's up," Sheriff Madden said.

"Come on in, Fred," Dakota said and opened the door wider.

The sheriff came in, and Dakota closed the door behind him.

"What brings you by?" Dakota asked.

"Good news," the sheriff said. "They picked Harold James up in Lathrop. A deputy there is bringing him back to Stockton."

Dakota sighed. "I'm not going to be able to identify him, Fred. I never saw him."

"You don't need to. He confessed. Actually bragged. How are you feeling?"

Dakota led the way into the living room, where he sat down on the settee and the sheriff took one of the armchairs. "Not too bad," Dakota said. "I just hurt. Won't be breaking any horses anytime soon."

"Nick's wallet will be thankful for that."

"So what's the procedure now? If he's confessed, I guess there will just be a sentencing hearing?"

Sheriff Madden chuckled. "Funny, how you knew that's how it's done, without even thinking about it. Yeah, in and out of court in ten minutes and he'll be off to Quentin. You got very lucky, Dakota."

"I know," Dakota said. "In a lot of ways," he added, looking around.

Sheriff Madden said, "Beginning to think you're going to stay, huh?"

Dakota smiled. "I didn't know my thinking was showing."

"Oh, it was pretty clear," Sheriff Madden said. "I could tell you had qualms about staying here the minute we met on the street, and it was even clearer when we talked about James. I don't know if lawyering is ever going to be back in your future, but I am happy you'll be hanging around."

"Lawyering or not," Dakota said, "I'm probably here for good. A man doesn't turn down a chance like I've been given here."

"I hope you can turn the 'probably' into a 'definitely' soon. Have you told your family yet?"

"I'll tell them at dinner tonight, I think. I hope they won't be disappointed. I doubt they were expecting me to be bringing all this trouble with me."

Sheriff Madden laughed. "A Barkley without trouble? Haven't you already figured out the two go together?"

Dakota laughed, but it made his side hurt, and he grabbed it. But he still laughed.

XXXX

"I have something I want to talk about," Dakota said as Nick handed him a drink before dinner.

His family members looked at each other cautiously. The way he said that sounded ominous.

But Dakota smiled. "I was thinking, in a few days when I'm able to travel again, we might pay a visit to the bank in town."

Victoria broke into a smile.

Dakota gave it back to her and kept talking. "I know my memory hasn't returned, even in part, but I don't think I really need it to. A couple of weeks being here with all of you, and I feel pretty much like a Barkley, even if I don't remember being one. The only thing, of course, is that I probably won't be able to be a lawyer – unless I go to law school all over again."

He made everyone laugh. Victoria said, "Only if you want to go back to school."

"I don't think so," Dakota said, and was kind of sorry about it, but he let the sorry fade away.

"So you'll be punching cows and mending fences with the rest of us now?" Heath asked.

"And doing whatever handling of the business I can do without a license," Dakota said.

"You can have the books," Nick said, fast.

"Just show me what to do, Nick," Dakota said.

"I will, because I hate them," Nick said.

"I never would have guessed," Audra said.

"Maybe there is one more thing we ought to ask you, Dakota," Victoria said.

Dakota was certain he knew what it was. He smiled. "Yes, I'm ready to be called Jarrod Barkley again."

Cheers went up, and so did everyone's glass. "Here's to Jarrod Barkley," Heath said. "Welcome home, Big Brother. It's good to have you back."

"Thank you, Heath," Jarrod said.

"Guess that means I don't have to pay you anymore," Nick said.

Moans went up all around.

"Only my share of the business," Jarrod said, "and since I'll be keeping the books, I can keep tabs on you about that."

"Welcome home, Jarrod," Nick said with a warm, genuine smile.

"Thank you, Nick," Jarrod said. "It's good to be home."

Epilogue

 _Dear Mr. Carlisle –_

 _I am writing to tell you that I won't be returning to Ely. It turns out that I am the Jarrod Barkley of the newspaper picture. Even if I still have no memory of him, my family does want me to stay. More important, I want to stay. They're good people, and apparently I've always been a good man. I'm happy here, and I'll always be grateful to you for finding that picture and showing it to me, so that I could find my way home._

 _Wishing you every good fortune in the future,_

 _Jarrod Barkley (aka Dakota)_

The End


End file.
